C.E. Gatchalian is a playwright, fiction writer, poet, editor, and teacher based in Vancouver. An alumnus of the University of British Columbia’s Creative Writing program (BFA, 1996; MFA, 2002), he is the author of three books: Motifs & Repetitions & Other Plays (2003), which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award; a chapbook of poetry, tor/sion (2005); and Broken, a suite of one-act plays. The recipient of the 2005 Gordon Armstrong Playwrights’ Rent Award, awarded annually to a BC playwright of merit, he has been Playwright-in-Residence at the Firehall Arts Centre, Artist-in-Residence at the University of British Columbia, and resident writer at the Berton House Writers’ Retreat in Dawson City, YT. His work has been produced on stages in Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg and New Zealand, as well as radio (CBC) and television (the Bravo! Channel). He is currently a Playwright-in-residence at the Vancouver Playhouse.

Jan Derbyshire is a performer, playwright, theatre maker, director, teacher, and comedian. Her work involves solo performance, community and artist collaboration, traditional playwriting, experimental storytelling, video, words on paper, event creation, and stand-up comedy. A prolific writer, Jan’s other plays include Dog of My Understanding, Audition of The Embarrassed Woman, The Opposite of Everything is True, Under The Big Top and A Modern Woman’s Guide to Female Impersonation, just to name a few. She has been Artist in Residence with The National Film Board of Canada, the Firehall Arts Centre and Montreal’s Playwright’s Centre. Currently she is an Artistic Associate with PTC (Playwright’s Theatre Centre) in Vancouver. She has performed stand-up comedy on A&E, CBC, CTV. Creation companies include Loco Motion, Squid Theatre, Myth Universe and Human Writes. Recent recipient of Remarkable Women Award 2012- The City of Vancouver.

Originally from Calgary, AB, Joseph has worked extensively in fund development and communications roles for Theatre Calgary, Alberta Theatre Projects, the University of Calgary Operetta Company and the University of Calgary proper. He is currently the Development Manager, Grants and Proposals, for the Vancouver Opera. In addition, Joseph has also contributed considerably on a volunteer basis to the Western Canadian arts community, co-chairing the Mayor's Evening for Business and the Arts gala event in Calgary, AB (produced by the Calgary Professional Arts Alliance) in 2009 and 2010. Joseph holds a communications degree from Mount Royal University and is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators, the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Calgary Professional Arts Alliance.  In his spare time, Joseph enjoys staying active as a volunteer organizer and communications advisor for the Planetary Society, the Centre for Inquiry and the SETI Institute.

Lauren Burrows-Backhouse
City of Richmond

Lauren is straight but very Queer.   Her first involvement with Screaming Weenie was as an actor in The Well of Horniness (2000) playing several characters and literally wearing many hats.  She has been on the board since the beginning.  Lauren recently migrated from a career in radio to now working with media arts for the City of Richmond.  She is currently raising a family in Vancouver.

John Crossen
Animator

John has a long history with the gay community in Vancouver. He created cartoons for Xtra West for 16 years and spent three years with Out On Screen doing animation and trailers. He is currently in his 3rd year on the Pride parade committee. John has 30 years experience in the plant, floral and display  business. He is currently exploring interactive animation for live theatre.
He knows and admires some of the Screaming Weenie folks, and now is one!

Janine Fuller has been the manager of the Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium since 1990. During this time she has constantly come up against Canada Customs over its arbitrary standards for admitting books into Canada. The resulting legal battles have become key elements in the development of Canadian free speech jurisprudence.
Her commitment to freedom of expression has gained her numerous personal honours, including the Reg Robson Award from the BC Civil Liberties Association and the YWCA Vancouver Women of Distinction Award, both in 1997. In 2004 she was presented with an honorary doctorate degree in Laws from Simon Fraser University for her “leading role in an historic legal battle against censorship in Canada.”
Born and raised in Toronto, Janine moved west in 1989, settling in Vancouver, where she has written books and been an activist and advocate for the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, transgendered communities.

Jeff is an educator and visual artist. He is also a committed contributor to the Eastside Culture Crawl and the Pride In Art Society. Jeff first joined Screaming Weenie's board in 2009 as an enthusiastic lover of live performance and queer culture. Website here.

Alex Leslie first learned of Screaming Weenies while volunteering as an interviewer for Out On Screen's Queer History Project, which Chris Gatchalian (Screaming Weenies Associate Artistic Director) facilitated for some time. Alex is a short fiction and non-fiction writer whose stories have been published in literary journals across Canada, winning a Gold National Magazine Award and a CBC Literary Award. A collection of her stories, People Who Disappear, is forthcoming from Freehand. She has taught writing workshops for Langara College Continuing Studies and Vancouver street magazine Megaphone, which facilitates workshops for residents of the Downtown Eastside. Right now she's interested in literary public art projects and experimental Queer short fiction. Website here.